Explore London’s secret gardens

words by Hazel Lubbock

Open Garden Squares Weekend will see many of London's private
gardens open for the public to explore on the 11 and 12 June.

Rooftops transformed into green spaces and hospital wards turned
into herb gardens will be among the over 200 spaces included in the
event. Crouch End will see a garden atop a supermarket - Food
from the Sky - and the Tube station in Southwark will
go green, too.

Kate Middleton's hotel of choice - The Goring, where she spent
the night before her wedding to Prince William - will even allow
the public to enjoy its immaculate lawns, transformed into a
Mustique-style beach bar for the week.

The former home of Princess Margaret, Apartment 1A at Kensington
Palace, will also offer guided tours. Royal Gardeners Todd
Longstaffe-Gowan and James Fox will show guests around the
princess's 'eighteen feet of Mustique' - a stone terrace given to
her shortly after her marriage.

Open Garden Squares Weekend has been set up by London Parks
& Gardens Trust to raise awareness of the social, cultural,
environmental and economic contribution that squares and gardens
make to the capital. For more information visit www.opensquares.org and follow the action on
Twitter - @OGSW2011England's best beaches